English Reference
Idiom idiom

straight face


A face that is expressionless, especially not laughing.

Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.


SIMPLE

“I tried to keep a straight face while he told the joke.”

CONTEXTUAL

“She struggled to keep a straight face when her boss walked into the meeting wearing two different shoes.”

COMPLEX

“Despite the absurdity of the accusations leveled against him, he maintained a perfectly straight face throughout the entire legal proceeding.”


Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    bash someone's face in

    To beat someone violently.

  2. 02

    blow up in one's face

    To fail disastrously.

  3. 03

    boat

    [Cockney slang]face

  4. 04

    break someone's face

    To beat up someone violently.

  5. 05

    butter face

    Alternative form of butterface.

  6. 06

    close the face

    To turn the face of the bat inwards, in order to hit the ball to the leg side.

  7. 07

    cut off one's nose to spite one's face

    To harm oneself as a result of attempting to harm an adversary.

  8. 08

    damn straight

    Without doubt, certainly, for sure.

Last updated August 10, 2026